Police fury as plug pulled on 101 line
Nov 16 2007 by Paul James, The Journal
A POLICE chief last night lambasted the Government after it scrapped funding for the region’s non-emergency 101 telephone number.
Just 16 months after launching the project to give people in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland an alternative to calling 999, the Home Office yesterday announced it was withdrawing funding for the £4.2m scheme.
Government officials said it would be up to police and council bosses in the North-East if they wanted to pay themselves to continue the service into the New Year.
Council chiefs last night warned it would be “impossible” to continue the Northumbria 101 service without Government cash.
And Northumbria Police’s Deputy Chief Constable David Warcup said: “The announcement by the Home Office to end the Government funding for the 101 service is a big disappointment for all the partners.
“Unfortunately, this is another example of the Government committing to a project then withdrawing its support at a crucial time.
“It makes it extremely difficult to plan the delivery of important public services with any degree of certainty. We will be considering our position over the next few days and will be talking to partners.”
He added: “I find it difficult to comprehend how such an approach would be adopted at a time when the Government is committed to improving local services, particularly in trying to ensure that local people have a say in what concerns them.”
Newcastle Council leader John Shipley said: “It will be impossible for the 101 service to carry on unless the Government is prepared to give grant money.”
The 101 number was being piloted in five regions nationally, including Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, and the Government announced last month that it was likely to freeze funding “due to severe financial pressures”.
Now it has withdrawn funding altogether, even though more than 100,000 people have called the line in the North-East since it was launched in July last year to ease pressure on the emergency services by giving them an alternative number for less serious crimes.
Last night John Berry, secretary of the North-East Pensioners Association, said: “To introduce something and then turn around and say ‘No’ is ludicrous. I think it’s a disgrace.”
In a statement, the Home Office said: “It is vital that we target our resources to those areas which will have the greatest impact and which will contribute most to the protection of the public and security of the country.
“Regrettably, it is on this basis that the Home Office will be no longer directly funding the live 101 areas but will work with the 101 partnerships to best manage the transition from central funding until March 31, 2008.”
Nobody was available for comment at the Northumbria 101 service.
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Service handling 500 calls a day
The Northumbria 101 Partnership was also chosen on Monday as finalists in the e-Gov National Awards, which recognises excellence in the use of electronic technology to improve people’s lives.
The non-emergency phone number was introduced in July 2006 and dealt with more than 100,000 callers in its first year.
The most recent figures, for September, showed it was handling more than 500 calls a day from people reporting drunken and rowdy groups, abandoned vehicles, litter, dumping and fly-tipping, noisy neighbours and loud parties, threatening and abusive behaviour, vandalism and graffiti, drug-related problems and broken street lighting.
Calls come in to contact centres at Northumbria Police and Newcastle and Sunderland councils. Staff then send service requests to the relevant local council, the police or both. About 86,500 calls from the 101 service have been referred to Northumbria Police, about half the total.
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